The system of the invention may be incorporated into telephone answering machines of the type including an outgoing message magnetic tape mechanism in which an announcement is recorded on a magnetic tape, and which is activated during an announcement interval in response to ring signals received over the telephone line to cause the recorded announcement to be transmitted over the telephone line to the calling party during that interval; and an incoming message magnetic tape mechanism in which incoming messages are recorded in sequence on a second magnetic tape.
The system of the invention may also be incorporated into telephone answering machines in which the outgoing message and incoming messages are recorded on a single tape in a single magnetic tape mechanism; or one in which the outgoing message is recorded in a solid state memory; and in other types of telephone answering machines.
The system of the invention also finds application in telephone answering machines which are equipped with a control system which causes the telephone answering machine to require a relatively large number of ring signals before it will seize the telephone line if no incoming messages have been recorded; but which requires a lesser number of ring signals to seize the telephone line when one or more incoming messages have been received and recorded. Such a control system permits the user to call his machine by long distance from a remote location in order to pick up any messages that might have been recorded on the machine, and if there are not messages to hang up before the machine seizes the telephone line and thus avoid toll charges. When the system of the invention is used in such a telephone answering machine, when power is restored after a power failure, and if there are incoming messages on the machine, the system of the invention automatically sets the machine to respond to the lesser number of ring signals.
The system of the invention also finds applications in a telephone answering machine which is equipped with an indicator lamp that, for example, is continuously energized if there are no incoming messages recorded on the machine, but which flashes if one or more incoming messages have been received and recorded, so as to enable the user at a glance to determine whether there are any messages on the machine. When the system of the invention is incorporated into such a telephone answering machine, and when power is restored after a power failure, and if there are incoming messages recorded in the machine, the system of the invention will cause the indicator lamp to flash.
In addition, the system of the invention may be incorporated into a telephone answering machine which is equipped with a call counter that indicates to the user how many incoming messages have been received and are recorded on the machine. Again, when power is restored after a power failure, the system of the invention will set the call counter to properly indicate the number of messages which have been received and which are recorded on the incoming message tape prior to the power failure.
Most present-day telephone answering machines are controlled by a microcomputer, and when such telephone answering machines are first energized, the microcomputer goes through a reset routine during which it checks both the outgoing message tape mechanism and the incoming message tape mechanism, and sets both tape mechanisms to their "home" or "origin" positions; and then sets the machine to its "auto answer" mode ready to respond to the first telephone call. The microcomputer in such machines also automatically sets the ring control system to its multiple ring condition, the call indicator lamp to its continuously energized condition, and the call counter to zero, when the machine is first energized.
In the prior art machines, when the telephone answering machine is first plugged into the electrical outlet the internal microcomputer causes both the outgoing message tape and the incoming message tape to be set to their "home" or origin position, the ring control system to be automatically reset to its multiple ring state, the call indicator lamp to be set to its continuous state, and the call counter to be set to zero. However, in the prior art machines the foregoing operations also occur when power is restored after a power failure, and this means that any incoming messages that had been recorded on the machine prior to the power failure are lost.
As described above, the system of the present invention provides a control for the telephone answering machine such that whenever power is applied to the machine, the microcomputer first determines if any messages had previously been recorded on the incoming message tape. If such is the case, the incoming message tape is set to a position adjacent to the end of the last incoming message recorded on the tape; the ring control system is set to cause the telephone answering machine to seize the telephone line when the lesser number of rings is received; the call indicator lamp is set to its flashing state; and the call counter is set to indicate the number of incoming messages which had previously been recorded.
In accordance with the present invention, this is achieved by recording data in the form, for example, of a series of one's and zero's near the beginning of the incoming message tape, and this data represents the tape pulse counts to the end of the last incoming message recorded on the incoming message tape, the data being changed each time a new incoming message is recorded on the incoming message tape. Then, when power is lost and re-applied, the microcomputer rewinds the incoming message tape to its origin position and reads the data, and it then restores the incoming message tape counter to its state prior to power failure, and moves the incoming message tape to the corresponding position adjacent to the end of the last incoming message recorded on the tape. Also, the microcomputer causes the control and indicator mechanisms to be restored to the state they were in prior to the power failure.
In the case of the single tape machine, in which the outgoing announcement and incoming messages are all recorded on a single tape, the aforesaid data is recorded at the beginning of the tape and represent the tape pulse counts for the end of the outgoing message, and also the tape pulse counts for the end of the incoming messages. Then when power is lost and restored, the microcomputer rewinds the tape and reads the data on the tape and uses that data to restore both the outgoing announcement and incoming tape pulse counters in the microcomputer which controls the tape mechanism so that the tape is in the exact position it was in prior to the loss of power.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple system in a telephone answering machine which responds, when power is restored after a power failure, to return the machine to exactly the condition it was in just prior to the power failure.
The present invention is generally similar to the invention disclosed and claimed in copending application Ser. No. 840,006 filed Mar. 17, 1986 in the name of Gerald L. Mock, and assigned to the present assignee.